Episode 14 of the Improv Resource Center Podcast is up and ready to download. Craig Cackowski from iO West and Second City in LA talks about doing scenes from imaginary plays, feeling scenes before you know what is happening, La Ronde and the North vs. South Harold.
Tag: improv exercises
IRC Podcast with Armando Diaz
Finally, it’s here! I’ve uploaded another episode of my podcast. This interview is with Armando Diaz, founder of the Magnet Theater. We talked about connecting with your scene partner, initiations, using improv to write and how to teach better.
IRC Podcast with Jimmy Carrane
I uploaded another episode of my improv podcast today. This week’s guest is Jimmy Carrane. We talk about grounded scenework, the third choice, reality transaction scenes, commitment, silent scenes, side coaching and group therapy.
IRC Podcast with Will Hines and John Frusciante
Finally, episode #11 of the Improv Resource Center Podcast is ready and uploaded! Will Hines and John Frusciante from the UCB Theatre in New York discuss the game, improv training simulators, an improv sabbath and things to steal from Ian Roberts.
Will and John host the UCB Theatre Podcast and teach at the UCB Training Center.
IRC Podcast with Kurt Braunohler
Yesterday, I uploaded episode #10 of my improv podcast. This week my guest is Kurt Braunohler. I really enjoyed this conversation. We began by talking about how one goes about teaching Harold, but we quickly moved on to other topics like solo improv, image streaming and viewpoints. Finally we talked briefly about Caligula, an exercise that we talked about in the Susan Messing podcast.
IRC Podcast with Lillian Frances
I uploaded episode #9 of the IRC Podcast yesterday. My guest this week is Lillian Frances who owns and runs the Laugh Out Loud Theater in Schaumburg, IL. She talks about auditions, teaching kids, using your warmups well, and yes-anding life. She performed at iO Theater and with many improv groups in Chicago. She was also a perfomer and assistant director for Boom Chicago in Amsterdam. She directed for Second City National Touring Company, the all women’ improv groups Jane and Sirens, and sketch shows with GayCo and Stir Friday Night.
This interview was a little different than the others, because we ended up talking a lot about what it’s like to run the business of a small improv theater. I really like how Lillie talks about her performers. It’s obvious that she has a lot of respect for her performers and trusts them in ways that not all improv directors do. It’s not surprising that several years after she first held auditions, seventeen of her first hires still work for her.
IRC Podcast with Susan Messing
Episode #8 of the IRC Podcast has just been uploaded. This week’s guest is Susan Messing. She performs regularly at the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago, where she teaches level four classes. She created the curriculum for level 2 at iO Theatre and teaches there as well. Among the episodes we discuss are Caligula, Busby Berkeley, and Doublemint Twins.
She can be seen performing every Thursday at 10:30 in Messing with a Friend at the Annoyance.
IRC Podcast with Billy Merritt
Episode #7 of the IRC Podcast has just been uploaded.
This week my guest is Billy Merritt who performs and teaches at the UCB Theatre in LA. We talk about premise based Harolds (Pirate Harolds, Robot Harolds and Ninja Harolds) and his character based performance classes where he has his students to create a single character over eight weeks. We also discuss character wheels, the cube edit and the hawk edit.
IRC Podcast with Tara Defrancisco
Episode #5 of the IRC Podcast has just been uploaded. Tara Defrancisco is a former member of the Second City Touring Company. She performs and teaches for iO Theater and ComedySportz in Chicago. She discusses several exercises she uses in her classes and workshops. We start by talking about "What’s in the Box?" a short form exercise to help people make quick decisions and to yes and those decisions. Next we talk about an exercise where students initiate scenes as if they are expressing an important idea to a real person in their life. Last we discuss a couple of exercises designed to get students to make new and different character choices in their scenes.
IRC Podcast with Kevin Hines
Episode #4 of the IRC Podcast has just been uploaded. Kevin Hines is a performer and teacher at the UCB Theatre in NYC. We begin by talking about a couple of exercises he uses to get students reacting quicker and more realistically to twists and turns in their scenes. We next talk about The Macroscene, a show that came out of his last performance class. Finally, we discuss an exercise he uses to rehearse third beats for Harolds.